Buy/build a cat tree? Recommendations please!

This forum is for discussing all topics related to the challenges (and joys!) of keeping your house clean while living with cats. Here you can share tips, recommendations for products and techniques, and more!

We are going to get a cat tree for Tillie since I can already tell in less than a week with her she wants to climb. I have been looking at armakat, which are in the right price range, although I am open to my husband building a custom job (maybe all wood) for a more clean modern look. I've also considered just doing a few floating shelves on the wall but wonder if that's too boring. can anyone share their experience with what they have or how they built their own? looking to spend around $100. thanks!

My boyfriend built me a classic carpet covered corner tree. It is about 5ft tall. It would have been taller, but I didn't like the idea of him being able to get out of my reach. If I were to build another, I might make it taller though. It has carpet and one post is wrapped with sisal. He also has 3 other store bought trees, which are placed around the house (one in each room about). What I really wanted to try, was to take a dead tree and make one of those really pretty all wood ones to put on the patio. However, I haven't found a tree that I like and is dead. Haha. If I did that, I would wrap one of the lower branches with sisal so there is something nice to scratch. The ideas are endless really!

My fiance built our kittens a tall, sturdy cat tree. It was really fairly simply and we spend around $50 on supplies (but we got the carpet for free), so you may be looking at a bit more. You can get wood for cheap at a building store. The sisal rope, if you use it, is likely to be the most expensive part. Our cats love scratching it! You'll also need carpet tacks. There are a lot of "how to" videos on Youtube. I honestly recommend making one yourself, because many of the ones I have seen in stores are poorly constructed but they still cost an arm and a leg! Pawmail me if you want more info or pics!